Discover Agility in Your Operations!

Your business launched a highly anticipated new product or service into the market, and results were well below expectations. So much time, money and effort were spent on creating it, and the development team was positive it was going to take the market by storm.

Disappointed is hardly a word that describes everyone’s emotions. The ramifications were not too pretty as well…one person lost their job, another was demoted, revenues plummeted, etc. Thankfully someone on the development team asked the question: ”What could we have done differently?”

Perhaps you don’t need to imagine this situation, because it unfortunately happened in your business. If that’s the case, here’s an answer to this all-important question…it’s possible your business could have done a better of job of listening to the Voice of the Customer (VOC), before you ever started the development project. If customer requirements were well documented in advance, your new product or service could have been tailored to meet the customer needs. By doing so, the likelihood of a more successful product or service launch would have increased significantly.

The SignsThis scenario, Product/Service Launch Failures, is just the first warning sign that your company needs to use VOC techniques. Here are other indicators:

High Levels of Customer ChurnThere’s no need to scratch your head, wondering why they left. The best solution is to reach out to them and find out the reasons for their departure. Perhaps a survey or focus group would be beneficial. Then, armed with these insights, you can put together an action plan to resolve the issues.

Rising Customer ComplaintsIf you’ve noticed an uptick in your customer complaints, it’s time to start doing a better job of understanding what is making them unhappy. Next, devise a plan to reverse the trend.

Depressed RevenuesIt’s not a far leap to find a connection between less-than-stellar profits and less-than-happy customers. Digging in deep to find out the reasons for their disenchantment can provide actionable insights for your business.

No Formalized Method of Gathering, Recording or Acting on Customer FeedbackIt’s so important to a business’ profitability to have a standardized way of ensuring feedback is properly gathered, stored, and acted upon. In fact, one study proves that companies with VOC programs outperform all others by as much as 22% across a number of categories, including revenue, customer churn, among others. There’s proof that VOC works!

What’s Your Story?If your business hasn’t encountered these warning signs, congratulations! You’re most likely doing a good job of listening to your customers. However, if any of these situations sound familiar, your business could be a good candidate for using VOC techniques. It can only help your organization! What have you got to lose (besides customers, profitability, etc.)? ;-)